"We need a video to show at a conference next month" said the voice on the 'phone, "we would like it to feature some of our overseas customers, preferably in China". The caller went on to list some of the other requirements of the video: it must feature the London sales office, the Midland factory and warehouse, as well as the R&D department and the Technical Centre where professional customers learn how to get the very best out of the company's products.
On the face of it this was a tall order with just four weeks to turn it around, including research, storyboard, script, shooting, graphics, editing and burning to a Blu-ray disc for the conference. The task was not made any easier when the creative team came up with the idea of shots of multiple low impact car crashes. The client produces fillers for the auto refinisher trade so we wanted to show how demand for these products is increasing as cities throughout the world become congested with more and more traffic - and the low impact collisions which often result.
In fact the tight schedule was made possible because of the "can do" attitude standard throughout the industry. With just a few emails and phone calls, filming was arranged in a customer's bodyshop in Shanghai, footage obtained of Paris, New York, Cape Town and Moscow. Film of car crashes was viewed, selected, downloaded and licensed, graphics were produced and filming was scheduled at the client's factory. How do you set about finding a film crew in Shanghai when you don't speak a word of Wu or Mandarin? Google provided plenty of offers, of course, but how do you sort out the best offer? And how can you be sure you are not going to be stung? The solution appeared in the form of a company in California, USA with crew contacts in China. By paying with AMEX and talking on Skype we could be fairly sure we would get what we needed - and we did. Although it would have been technically possible to transfer the "rushes" over the internet, broadband speeds would still make a tedious task. However the rushes fitted onto a tiny USB fob and could be sent easily by international courier with the minimum of delay.
It's a sad fact that the moment you take a camera into a factory and point it at a production line, the whole lot will grind to a halt. This is probably something to do with film crews wanting safety guards removed and glass doors held open to get better shots. Or else it's the demand for a greater product concentration on the line, or perhaps operators are distracted by the crew's equipment and lights. On this occasion the factory management were ahead of the game, they had shut down two lines specifically for our visit so that none of these things could happen. Instead we were given complete freedom to put our camera where we wished and to orchestrate the line to get the shots we needed. Not only were we able to cover more sequences in the short time available but the planned shut down of the lines was much less wasteful than the kind of breakdown which sometimes occurs. Normally, the area where we were filming would be a fire hazard and the use of lights would be prohibited. However, by running the line just for our benefit we could light the shots properly.
The film was completed with two days to spare and although the speed and ease of modern communication, digital filming and video editing helped a lot, it was the high standard and excellence of service to be found in the film and television industry worldwide which really made it possible. The resulting corporate video production can be viewed on the Just Film website.
Chris Pettit is a Partner in Just Film, a video production near London in the UK. Just Film is a corporate video company specialising in films for charities and not-for profit organisations. There are many example video clips on the company website.
The rationale of the company is to focus on issues of social justice and the website blog contains many articles about social issues, activism and video production.
Visit the website at http://www.justfilm.co.uk/
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